Naruto and the Therapy Core
by brenco
Summary: Naruto is a mildly depressed boy with zero chakra reserves.  Fortunately, he manages to summon a friend with some very interesting characteristics...    What Methods of Rationality did for rationality, this story attempts to do for Cognitive Therapy.
1. Basic Premises

The Uchiha clan worked together with the Fourth Hokage to develop a rare and powerful ninjutsu. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the laboratory they were working in was destroyed. Many ninja died that day, including most of the Uchiha clan.

Eight months later, Uzumaki Naruto was born.

"Naruto!"

Naruto's head jerked up. "Yes, Umino-sensei?"

Iruka was standing in front of him with a disapproving scowl on his face. "Perhaps you could show us the seals?"

Naruto was still disoriented. Several seconds ago his head had been laying on the desk, his arms used as a makeshift pillow. A few people were giggling at the situation.

"The seals for what?" he asked, stalling for the time needed to clear his head.

"Bunshin no jutsu."

Naruto nodded and made the seals with his hands: ram, snake, tiger.

"Very good. Next time though, do try to stay awake."

Naruto flushed. He had stayed up late the night before trying to successfully execute a ninjutsu technique, any ninjutsu technique, but nothing had happened. No matter how many times he followed the steps, nothing ever happened.

Well, at least he was decent at traps and sparring. The last two times he'd gone through the exam, they'd been on ninjutsu techniques. Iruka asked him why he disappeared before he could take the test, but it was too humiliating to tell him. Hopefully the final exam this year would be something he could work with. A written test, perhaps. Or maybe an obstacle course.

If he didn't get lucky this time, his dream of becoming a ninja would be forever barred to him. Naruto didn't even want to think about the consequences of that.

"Okay everybody, time for sparring practice. Grab a partner and meet me outside."

Naruto walked to the door, waiting to see who he could match up with. Nobody seemed to mind sparring with him, but nobody was clamoring to partner up with him either. Unlike his classmate Sasuke Uchiha, who everybody wanted to spend time with. Naruto couldn't blame them: Sasuke was outgoing and friendly, with a kind word for everybody.

And he was walking straight towards Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto! I hadn't sparred with you in a while, so I thought we could partner up." Sasuke put his arm around Naruto's shoulders and started walking with him to the sparring grounds outside.  
>"I guess that would be fine," Naruto mumbled, not entirely comfortable with the physical contact.<br>"Great!"

On the other side of the yard, Hinata stared at Sasuke and Naruto sparring. A recent conversation she had was running through her head.

_"I don't know what to do," Hinata said softly. "Even when I do my best, I still fail. I'd give up, but then father would be even more upset. I'm just a disgrace to the Hyuuga name."_  
><em>"Hey!"<em>  
><em>Hinata's head snapped up.<em>  
><em>"Are you going to just sit there and mope? You're an awesome person, and you're going to be a great kunoichi when you grow up."<em>  
><em>Hinata blushed furiously.<em>  
><em>"So what if they don't think you're very good?" the boy continued. "Practice a hundred times harder and show them all just how awesome you are!"<em>  
><em>"I don't think it's that easy-" she started.<em>  
><em>"It doesn't matter if it's easy or not! I believe in you!"<em>  
><em>"th- thank you."<em>  
><em>The boy grinned and put his arm across her shoulders behind her, drawing her into a sort of sideways hug.<em>  
><em>"...Sasuke."<em>

Hinata blushed, remembering the conversation she had with Sasuke. He believed in her, and that was all that mattered.


	2. Exam Day

Naruto waited outside with the other students in front of the ninja academy. Normally the classes started in the morning, but the final exam was scheduled to start at noon. Most of the students had arrived early and were milling around, waiting for the doors to open.

Naruto was having trouble focusing on anything that was happening around him. The chatter of the other students was barely audible over the sound of his own heartbeat. His hands were clammy, his pulse was racing, and his thoughts were racing a million miles an hour in every different direction. Naruto clasped his hands in front of him and noticed that they were shaking. The more he tried to control them the worse the shaking became, until he finally placed his hands under himself and sat on them.

After an agonizing delay, the doors finally opened and the students milled into the main instruction room.

The chalkboard that usually stood at the front of the classroom was gone. In its place were three ninja sitting behind a table. The first two were instructors Naruto recognized, Iruka and Mizuki. The third one, however, was an old man wearing white robes and a triangular red and white hat.

Once all the students sat down, Iruka stood up and addressed them all. "Listen up!" he said. "We have a special guest today. This is the fourth Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He is the leader of our village of Konoha, as well as one of the strongest ninja in the entire village. He has agreed to come oversee your final exam, so I want you all to be on your best behavior. Any questions?"

Shikamaru Nara's hand shot in the air. Several other students made groaning noises as Iruka called on him.  
>"Why does his hat say 'fire'?" Shikamaru asked.<br>"The Hokage is the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village, which is just one village in the Land of Fire. By wearing that symbol, he proclaims his affiliation with and allegiance to the Land of Fire."  
>"Yes, but isn't it also true that the Daimyou of the Land of Fire is the one who chose him to be the next Hokage?"<br>"No, that only happens when the previous Hokage dies before appointing a successor."  
>"Oh. But wasn't there a Fourth Hokage who died? Shouldn't the Daimyou choose a successor to replace him?"<br>"Only if the Village can't choose for itself. Remember, the Daimyou is responsible for all the towns, villages and cities in the entire Land of Fire. If we went running to him for things that we could take care of ourselves, we'd never get anything done. And on that note, let's get started with the testing."

Iruka silently congratulated himself for steering things back on-track. Shikamaru loved to learn, but he had an unfortunate habit of dragging the discussion off-topic and monopolizing the teacher's time and attention.

"The final exam today consists of performing a basic Clone technique in front of your classmates. The purpose of this test is to see how well you perform under pressure. Ninja are called upon to perform in extremely stressful situations, and if you can't handle it, it's best that we know now."

Naruto's blood ran cold. He couldn't believe it. Three times through the academy, and every single time, they required him to do something that he simply couldn't do. And the third time was in front of his classmates? Naruto couldn't believe his rotten luck. Naruto didn't want to fail the exam in front of his classmates, which was sure to happen if he stayed there. But this was also his last shot at becoming a proper ninja. He couldn't leave now! Paralyzed with indecision, Naruto stayed stuck to his seat, shivering and sweating, until-

"Uzumaki, Naruto!"

Naruto flinched upon hearing his name. Slowly he got to his feet. His arms felt like lead as he made his way to the front of the room. He bowed to each instructor and the Hokage separately, then turned to face the classroom. Everybody was staring at him.  
><em>I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this...<em>

Naruto made the hand seals.  
>"Bunshin no jutsu!" he yelled.<br>Nothing happened. He tried again.  
>"Bunshin no jutsu!"<br>Nothing.  
>Tears were forming in his eyes. Somebody giggled. He didn't make the hand signs again, just holding the last one and yelling once more "BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"<p>

There was nothing.

Naruto couldn't handle it. His eyes burning with repressed tears, he turned and ran out of the classroom.

**Author's Notes:**

If you like this fanfiction, please leave a review. It's extremely effective motivation for me to write more chapters. Currently I have zero reviews and three people who put this on story alert. If you're one of the three people who are waiting to read my work, let me just say "Hi!~"

The titular Therapy Core should show up in the next chapter or two, so look forward to that!


	3. Aftermath

Naruto tore through the valley, sobbing uncontrollably. _Stupid! Stupid!_  
>It had been an unmitigated disaster. They were probably all laughing at him. He'd never be a ninja now. His life was over. It was hopeless.<p>

No longer running at full speed, Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around. His feet had taken him down one of the main paths that radiated outwards from the Hokage monument, and he was currently in front of the ramen shop. He usually stopped by there when he was feeling depressed, but today not even his namesake ramen could cheer him up. He picked up speed and started jogging again. Eventually he picked a tree at random and sat down against it, feeling miserable for himself.

"Hey."  
>Naruto's head jerked up as a shadow fell over him.<br>"Mizuki-sensei! What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise.  
>"Iruka was worried about you, so he had me check and make sure you were okay. What happened back there?"<br>Tears started burning Naruto's eyes and blurring his vision as he remembered the recent incident.  
>"I DON'T KNOW!" he sobbed, before bawling at the top of his lungs. Mizuki just stood there, waiting.<br>Eventually, Naruto calmed down enough to get words out. "I don't know," he repeated. "I've never been able to perform any jutsu. Every time, every single time, I fail. I do the signs perfectly, I know it! I watch everybody else, I pay attention in class, so WHY CAN'T I DO THIS?"  
>"It sounds like you have a congenital chakra defect," Mizuki said. "Tell me: when we perform the meditation exercises to draw out your chakra, do you ever feel anything?"<br>Naruto shook his head glumly.  
>"I thought so. Well, normally there is no hope for a ninja who can't perform ninjutsu. However, I know something that could help you. It's very rare, and you would need to keep it a secret, but I should be able to fix your problem."<br>Naruto's eyes widened in shock. This what what he wanted, more than anything else. To be able to perform jutsu, to be a full-fledged ninja in his own right. "How?"  
>"How much do you know about your parents?"<br>"Um, not much. They were killed in the Uchiha Lab gas explosion, right?"  
>Mizuki smiled. "Yes. I've made several expeditions to the abandoned lab, but I can't get very far inside. I suspect it's protected by some sort of seal. Your parents worked there. Since the same blood runs through your veins, you should be able to get us in. If you come with me, I will definitely be able to use the information and tools in the Uchiha Lab to fix your ki center. You'll be a proper ninja, Naruto."<br>"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.  
>Mizuki smiled. "Would I lie to you?"<p> 


	4. On the Road, In the Lab

Half an hour into their walk, Naruto noticed something on the ground. It was a shiny grey object that seemed embedded in the dirt path. It was about the size of Naruto's hand, and when he went to pick it up he found it was solidly embedded in the ground and wouldn't move.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know," Mizuki replied, "but there's more of them down this way."

Mizuki's statement proved accurate, and the further down the road Naruto walked, the more of them there were. They started on the ground at random intervals, but as he walked further Naruto saw them piled on top of each other, shapes growing out of the ground like some bizarre stalactite or modern art sculpture, always made of the same grey material. Naruto stopped to stare at one of them.

"What is it?" Mizuki asked. "Is that a seal?"

"N-no, I don't think so. It's just that it looks... well, it looks familiar. I know I've never seen it before, but it still looks familiar." He turned to Mizuki. "Does that make any sense?"

The shape in question was a bizarre pillar rising out of the earth. It looked partly like a metal rod that had been heated to bubbling, and partly like some complex geometric design that hinted at higher dimensions.

Mizuki studied it briefly before giving Naruto a funny look. "Come on," Mizuki said, "we need to keep walking."

Naruto knew they had arrived at the laboratory before he actually saw it. The trees and foliage had all but been choked out by the grey masses, and the masses repeated so often on the ground that it wasn't even possible to see dirt underfoot any more. The objects were of all different shapes and sizes, but they all had they same geometric/bubbled appearance to their surface. Naruto had come to think of this material as lab metal. The lab metal was so densely clustered in front of them that it was difficult to find a walking path. Further down the road was more of the same, but larger. Much larger. It looked like somebody had blown giant bubbles out of the material, then froze them and hit the resulting clump with a giant hammer. It wasn't cracked, but certain portions of it looked...offset, somehow.

Mizuki climbed over a few more obstacles on the ground before approaching the main bulk of the material and indicating a doorway set into the bubble.

"Wow. Was this really the Uchiha lab? It seems different from what I imagined."  
>"Of course it is!" Mizuki replied with a grin on his face. "All labs look like this. Didn't you know that?"<br>Naruto looked around him again, taking in the odd familiarity of the shapes around him. "If you say so."  
>Mizuki gestured inside. "Are you coming or not?"<br>Naruto hesitated. "It's dark in there."  
>"It gets lighter inside," Mizuki reassured him.<br>Naruto hesitated a second longer, then sighed and walked in. As promised, light panels in the walls flickered and activated as they passed. The panels activated one after the other, racing ahead of Mizuki and Naruto before disappearing out of eyesight, leaving the entire hallway illuminated as far as the eye could see.

Mizuki turned to Naruto. "This is where I got stuck last time. Walk with me and hopefully we'll get through."

Mizuki started walking down the hallway. Naruto heard a noise behind him, but when he turned to look outside, there was nothing there. Naruto shrugged and followed Mizuki.

A half-hour later, Naruto was thoroughly confused and Mizuki was extremely frustrated.  
>"AAARGH! IT'S SUPPOSED TO LET ME THROUGH! STUPID DEFENSE MECHANISM! IT'S NOT EVEN DOING WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO TO!"<br>Mizuki punched a wall, then yelled in pain and frustration. "AAARRGGGGHHHHH!"  
>"Um, Mizuki?" Naruto hesitantly asked.<br>"WHAT?"  
>"Where are we trying to go?"<br>Mizuki took several deep breaths before turning to face Naruto.  
>"We're trying to get to the Central Processing Core. It's a room just off of the main Control Center. All the different labs funnel their data through it to be analyzed and converted to long-term storage. But the stupid LAB won't LET ME THROUGH!"<br>"Okay. Is that why we've been going in circles?"  
>Mizuki glared at Naruto. Then he pivoted on his leg and kicked Naruto in the side. Hard. Naruto dropped to his hands and knees and retched.<br>"You know, I've had enough of putting up with your crap. You're just a useless ninja. You have no parents. You have no skills. Nobody cares about you. In fact, you're just a burden to Konoha. I thought you could at least make yourself useful and let me into the lab, but you couldn't even do that, could you?"  
>Mizuki grabbed Naruto's head with both hands and slammed it with his knee. Naruto's head exploded with pain. And then, mercifully, everything went black.<p> 


End file.
